The Seven Unite Part II: Flight of the First Bird
by WhitePhoenix52
Summary: The Federation has surrounded planet Freedom. In order to set things right with McFalen, Ron and his friends have decided to construct a starship of their own. With Robotnik's supplies, they are able to build a ship of incredible power.


The Seven Unite

Part II: The Flight of the First Bird

For Two long nights Ron and the others worked diligently on the immense star-ship shaped like a bird. Ron, Rebecca, Robotnik, and Tails looked up with pride at their work. It was a large metallic bird of a deep blue, with red at the end of each wing, and eyes a powerful crimson. Its beak sharp as a diamond, its wings spread with pride. The bird stood on two large devices bearing tank tracks and bore two large and powerful engines, one at the base of each wing.

"Thought of a name yet, Ron?" Robotnik asked. He noticed Rebecca still observing the bird's beauty, and Tail's brainstorming a creative name. Robotnik tried his best to avoid reminiscing about the time he knew Rebecca as Zero, but the near feeling of creating the most destructive force in the galaxy was penetrating Robotnik's already rampant mind too well to be ignored.

"I've already thought of one." Ron answered. Robotnik's attention returned to the subject at hand. "Well call it _The Typhoon_." Ron said with a creator's pride. Rebecca and Tails found the name suiting while Robotnik, as always was reluctant to admit to Ron's creativity, found the name, somewhat ridiculous. But he kept his renewed partnership in mind and didn't want to spoil his chance for achieving vengeance against the sinister and sophisticated back-stabber: Ralph McFalen.

"Now all we need are the chaos emeralds to power this thing." Ron admitted. Ron looked at Tails for a response to his announcement.

"Sonic hasn't reported in yet." Tails answered. Tails was worried but he didn't show his emotions as much as he did in his childhood, now that he was 21 years of age, his maturity started to show more significantly.

"I'll go after them." Rebecca volunteered.

"I'll go with you." Tails added. Rebecca gave a stare for a moment and Tail's knew he had to back off.

"Sorry, but I'm the fastest one here. I can't risk you falling behind." Rebecca explained. She took off in a hurry, knowing that they had no time to lose if they wanted to catch up with McFalen. Tails looked on, observing Rebecca's beauty. He was amazed by the fact that he knew she was really around 30 years old, but because of the freezing, she still had the grace of 20 years' appearance.

Tails knew he would eventually feel this way about someone, but even though he has one of the most focused minds around, he couldn't comprehend the deep feeling in his heart. Then it occurred to him. He may not have wanted to go because of Sonic at all. He may have wanted to be Rebecca's protector, but he was to love struck to comprehend his own thoughts.

Rebecca was indeed faster than Sonic, the only problem was, she had no idea where he was. She came to one of the openings in the sky, then it occurred to her, the others must have journeyed to the other surface, seeing as how Miles had learned to fly with his tails. Rebecca didn't know how she would manage to ascend to the doorway to the land of the sky. She tried to figure out a way, when she saw a very familiar white feather land before her.

She looked ahead and found the mysterious white bird staring at her. The bird turned and spread its wings ready to fly, waiting for Rebecca sit herself securely on its back. Her hand started to shake nervously. The bird flapped its wings once and the force was so mighty that they were halfway up to the portal. The bird seemed to soar upward without having to flap its wings. Rebecca held on tight, quite surprised that she found herself scared at all.

The bird landed and let Rebecca off when they reached the surface. "Thank you, but can you show where my friends are?" Rebecca plead to the bird. The bird gave no response, but instead soared on it's way to the west. Rebecca was disappointed until she noticed another white feather, facing west. She knew the bird wouldn't let her down.

Rebecca raced across a desert, finding nothing for minutes. She was beginning to lose faith in the white bird. Seconds later, she noticed the entrance to an underground tunnel. She figured the others would have gone there. They would be insane to search out in the hottest spot on the planet. Inside, she found three different pathways divided by walls. She stood blankly in front of them. "You've got to be kidding me!" Rebecca uttered. She continued down the middle path, knowing she would find at least one person.

It wasn't a challenge making it through the path, the only problem was is that it took forever to find the end. When Rebecca finally reached the others, she found that one was missing. She found Sonic and Knuckles taking a quick break from their long run down the endless path. "Where's Miles?" Rebecca asked frantically.

"He went down the right path." Knuckles answered.

"So both of you came through the center?" Rebecca pointed out.

"No. The center and the left merged a while back." Sonic replied.

"Do you think Miles is in trouble?" Knuckles asked. The friends soon heard the crying voice of a young boy.

"Come on! We've gotta go back and find him!" Sonic commanded.

Rebecca turned to the right wall. "No time!" She declared. She drew her blade and sliced right through the thick stone walls. Dust shrouded the three when a portion of the wall collapsed. Revealed was a room where Miles was battling an old enemy. It was the strange robot that Sonic destroyed during his training. Rebecca made quick work of the robot, cutting it to shreds with her blade in seconds.

When the dust cleared, Miles's eyes met with Rebecca's, and for some reason, they couldn't break free of the beauty of each other's eyes. "Uh, guys!" Sonic began. He pointed to the collapsing ceiling rushing towards them even more. The four ran out as fast as they could, Miles tailing behind, barely surviving.

The four caught their breath, and were soon disappointed when they remembered the fact that they were supposed to retrieve a chaos emerald. But Miles revealed the golden emerald he found before the others came to his rescue. Rebecca led the way back, for the group's three days for gathering emeralds were over.

When the group arrived back at the fortress, the had a total of five emeralds. Ron inspected them for a moment. "It's questionable, but it may be enough." he concluded.

"Lucky for you guys, this time I don't need them." Robotnik remarked. He revealed the two remaining emeralds. "Is this enough?"

"Sometimes I wonder." Ron muttered.

"You thought I did the last three years doing nothing!" Robotnik bragged. "Like I said, you guys are lucky we're on the same side this time."

Ron finished putting the last of the emeralds in the power generator. He turned to face the rest of his crew. "Is everyone ready?"

All of them nodded, each at a different control panel in the main hull of the ship. Ron entered the room where he would pilot the bird. He switched on the power and saw everything through the red plexiglass covering the cockpit. He could feel that his hard work would pay off.

"Are the tracks ready?" Ron asked into his comlink.

"Ready to go, captain." Rebecca's voice answered.

"Right. Robotnik, open the doors to the fortress." Ron commanded. Robotnik punched in a code on his console which caused the massive walls of the fortress to make way for the giant bird to exit. "Full speed forward!" Ron commanded. Sonic thrust two handles parallel to each other forward.

The tank treads began moving the Typhoon forward quickly. It was only a second or two before they reached top speed. "Power to engines, now!" Ron ordered. The engines at the base of each wings flamed up causing the bird to lift up off the ground. Soon the bird was on it's way through the atmosphere, and into the endless frontier of space.

"There's the fleet!" Ron announced into his com link. The Blue bird zoomed in faster out of the planet's atmosphere and onward to the blockade of Federation Flagships. "How many do you think there are?"  
  
"Twenty in front of us are opening fire!" Tails's voice wailed over the speaker. "and there's gotta be at least a hundred around the rest of the planet."  
  
"Then there's only one way through this." Ron decided as he maneuvered the ship to dodge the incoming laser fire. "Get strapped in, I'm gonna go with the Typhoon Twist!" Ron announced. "Don't fail me now, Typhoon." Ron mumbled.   
  
The Typhoon's engines flared with power, jetting the bird even closer to one of the flagships. Laser fire was absorbed by the ship's energy shields, but they would not last much longer. The power of the chaos emeralds could only do so much.  
  
Ron flipped a few switches on his control console, and grasped a nearby handle. The switches triggered the beak to switch from its normal curve to being straight and end of each wing to rotate to a fixed angle. Ron thrust forward the handle forcefully and held on as tightly as he could to the steering controls.  
  
The Typhoon's engines put out twice as much energy as before which sent the bird into a rapid spin. Its attack was a raging tornado, or rather, a typhoon of power. The Typhoon was headed for the main hull of the flagship straight in front of them. None of the flagship's fire power could stop the assault.  
  
The point gouged through the thick armor plating and tore it to shreds. Its wings expanded the wake of destruction, tearing the rest of the ship to pieces as the Typhoon bored deeper into the Federation's forces.  
  
The bird's vicious spinning came to a halt as it jetted away from the explosion that consumed the wreck that was once a destructive vessel. "Is everyone alright?" Ron asked over the intercom.  
  
"A-ok dad!" tails responded cheerfully.  
  
"Good, stay in for a minute, I'm gonna make the jump to light speed." Ron flipped a couple of switches, then turned a knob, and the outside became a blur as the bird zoomed through space at the speed of light.  
  
Meanwhile, McFalen observed the rest of the fleet as his flagship passed the rest of the blockade. "Are they through?" McFalen spoke into an intercom.  
  
"Yes sir, they've already made they're jump into light speed." a voice responded.  
  
"Did you get their coordinates?" McFalen demanded.  
  
"Yes sir. They're headed towards a space station." The voice answered.  
  
"Good. Prepare the ship for hyperspace." McFalen turned to one of the crew members behind him. "Radio to the nearest ship and tell them to rendezvous at the Halstar Space Station in 0800 hours." McFalen ordered.   
  
The Flagship's control tower started to rotate around the base of the hull. The tower seemed to lay down parallel with the hull and hangars. The engines lit up, and in moments the flagship was zooming through at light speed, chasing the bird known as the _Typhoon_.

Ron exited the cockpit and entered the main hull where the others awaited his news about their venture through space. "So, now that we've escaped the Federation's blockade, where do you propose we go next?" Robotnik asked with concern his voice.

"Well, we're headed for a station. Maybe we can find the location of a Federation installment and start our search for McFalen." Ron suggested.

"Are you sure that's a good idea.? I mean, there's bound to be thousands of Fed installments out there. Our chances of finding him without sufficient data is impossible." Robotnik debated.

"Maybe once we get to this station we can find someone to help us out." Ron answered. Robotnik knew he would drive himself crazy trying to convince Ron there was almost no point in this chase since they had no knowledge of the universe outside their own planet.

"Are you sure that this thing will make the trip?" Sonic questioned doubtfully. "And with that in mind, how far do we have to go?"

Ron was becoming increasingly unsure of this whole idea. Maybe he was just wasting his time. But he wasn't ready to give up yet. "I'm confident the chaos emeralds will be enough to power this thing there. And to answer your question of distance, we'll be there in about five hours at six times light speed."

"Six times light speed!?" Miles's voice wailed in the back of the hull. Everyone stared at the boy's surprise. "How is that possible?"

"The power of the chaos is a powerful thing, especially when you have all seven emeralds." Knuckles explained. "You've got a lot to learn if your ever going to be my apprentice."

"Apprentice?" Tails queried. "Apprentice at what?" All the others seemed interested in the conversation now. "How come you never offered to teach me?"

"Well, Tails, for starters, since you are both descendants of someone who is strong with the chaos, you're both very qualified to use its powers skillfully." Knuckles looked down at Miles. "The only difference is that Miles has more of an interest in its power than you ever bothered to show." Knuckles explained. "And the fact that he is younger makes it easier for me as his teacher." he looked back at Tails. "But the reason I'm teaching him is because he cared enough to ask, you didn't."

Tails was devastated and shattered inside. He didn't know how to act so he retreated to the back where the accommodations for the crew were. "Well, if you don't mind, I'll stay at the controls until we come up on the station. I'll let ya know when to get ready." Ron announced as he went back into the cockpit. Rebecca stood and went into the back where Tails was without saying a word.

Sonic leaned back into his chair and dozed off for the five hours he had to endure. Robotnik went through the door next to the one that led to the accommodations. Knuckles and Miles followed Robotnik to continue Miles's training and lessons, but Knuckles felt that deep inside he couldn't fully trust Robotnik alone, especially with the chaos emeralds.

In the back, Tails sat on his bed, tears of sadness and confusion stained upon his face. He payed no mind to Rebecca when she entered. She sat next to Tails hoping she could find some way to comfort him. "I've never felt this way before." Tails finally admitted. Rebecca continued to remain quiet, waiting for the right moment to speak. "It's an anger inside of me that feels so alone and empty."

"Tails, it may not be easy to admit, but you probably feel jealous of your brother." Rebecca interpreted his description as she could, hoping she approached this the right way. "I can understand if you haven't felt jealousy towards your brother." Tails felt her hand on his. "But Knuckles made his point as clear as it can get. You showed an interest in technology more than you did the chaos."

Tails knew she was right. Instead of helping Knuckles gather emeralds he much more eagerly decided to help with the _Typhoon_. Tails finally dried his tears, and was mesmerized by Rebecca's beautiful green eyes. Neither of them realized it, but they stared into each other's eyes for minutes. Both knew there was care for each other, but Tails' mind wanted to ask Rebecca so badly if they were falling love. Neither said anything. Rebecca got up and left the room without saying a word, hoping she helped Tails with his jealousy.

Robotnik was busy looking over the emeralds to make sure nothing went unstable with the tremendous power source. But while Robotnik kept an eye on the emeralds, Knuckles kept an eye on Robotnik. While he did his job as protector of the emeralds, Knuckles decided to fulfil his duties as a teacher also. "One thing you have to understand Miles it that although the power of the chaos may be strong, it's balance is quite fragile." Knuckles began. "There have been some times when this balance was threatened, the most recent being the dark chaos that a certain someone invented." Robotnik winced in embarrassment. "But at least that threat has passed." Knuckles assured.

"Miles, it's very important that you learn to focus your mind so that you can harness the full potential of the chaos's power." Knuckles continued. "Try to feel and harness the chaos to enhance your abilities. This is where the work begins." Knuckles instructed. Robotnik glanced at the two, then went back to his work, making sure everything was in perfect order for the journey.

The five hours passed, and the ever alert Ron awaited the signal from the Typhoon's computer system to exit light speed. The signal came within minutes, Ron flipped the switches that cut off the Typhoon's light speed. Everything slowed down. The blurry view of space became its crystal clear self again. Ron switched everything over to manual control to prepare the bird for land, that is, if the station would permit him to land.

A light on the control panel flashed signaling an incoming transmission. Ron accepted the signal, waiting to ask for his landing clearance. "Greetings from the Halstar Space Station." a voice from the radio announced. "Do you have a previously granted landing permit?"

"No, is there any way I can get one now?" Ron asked the operator.

"Does your ship have an identification code?"

"Afraid not, is there still any way we can land?"

"Enter the tractor beam in front of docking port #52 for inspection." The voice answered.

"Thank you." Ron ended the transmission. He circled the perimeter of the station. It was a large cylinder shape in the middle with three circular structures surrounding it. The three large rings were the docking ports, Ron searched for port #52 on the outer ring. The two inner rings rotated around the cylinder axis until the beacons marked on top were lined up with the outer ring. Ron approached port #52 slowly so the tractor beam would guide the Typhoon inside the hangar without causing any damage.

"Everyone, get ready. Were landing so get ready to get off when we get there." Ron announced. Sonic, Zero and Tails woke up after their five hour sleep, Miles and Knuckles ended their session, and Robotnik made a final check over everything. Everyone was in the hull prepared to exit when they were safely landed. The Typhoon landed and was being pulled further into the hangar by a conveyer belt on the floor. The inspection crew was amazed when they saw the technological miracle make its way to its stop in the hangar.

The seven friends made their way out of the ship through the opening in the middle of the bottom which looked like the belly of the bird. Ron was first to exit, seeing as how he was the captain of the vessel. One of the officials signaled the inspection crew to start their search of any smuggling attempts or dangerous weapons. "Now I'll need your name and method of payment." The official informed.

Ron was getting nervous, they had no method of payment, so he knew this would be a rather tough journey. "Ron Prower." he answered. The official stopped and his eyes grew wider.

"Did you say, Ron Prower?" The official asked like all life had ceased in an instant.

"Yes, is there a problem?" Ron was beginning to worry.

"Excuse me Mr. Prower, what a terrible mistake I've made!" The official was beginning to make it sound like Ron was a well known celebrity. "It's seems there was an error."

"What?" Ron was really confused now.

"It seems that I was informed this ship didn't have a clearance code, but your reservation is right here!" the official explained. Ron didn't know what to say, how could he have possibly made a reservation here and not known about it. Maybe there was someone else with the same name out there, the universe is big after all. "They must have a new person at the communications sector that made the mistake, my sincerest apologies, Mr. Prower. Come, we have your accommodations ready for you." The official led the way out of the hangar, then signaled to the inspection crew to cancel the inspection.

Ron didn't have any clue as to what was going on, but he had to go along with it now, it was either this, or the cold of space. "That is a nice piece of engineering you have there, tell me, how much was it?" The official asked.

"I didn't buy it, I built it." Ron explained.

"Of course! I must be going mad. I should have expected such a fine craft from someone of the Prower line." The official went on. Ron was once again baffled by the man's continuous admiration and respect for his name, but as long as he didn't have to confess he didn't really have a reservation. "How rude of me, I forgot to give you my name. Please call me Jerry. Now tell me, is there anything that needs to be done to your ship? Fueling, repair, or maybe some improvements? We have a shop in one of the hangars that has the best selection in parts to improve any star ship." Jerry continued.

"External repairs would be fine." Ron answered.

"Great! I'll need you're the blueprints for your ship and I'll have a repair crew here on the double." Jerry informed.

Ron stared blankly. He had no idea he had to fork up the blue prints to his ship for the repairs, but it did make sense. He saw Robotnik holding a disk, wanting Ron to take it. Ron then felt glad that Robotnik was his partner once again, at least for now. "Here they are." Ron handed over the disk that he trusted had the blueprints to the Typhoon.

"Great, you can wait in the lobby, or you can go up to your suite, whichever you prefer. The crew will be able to handle everything from here." Jerry explained.

"We'll go up to our rooms." Ron answered.

"Good, here are your room numbers and key cards." Jerry said with a smile. "Please enjoy your stay."

Ron nodded and went with the rest of the crew to the elevator that led to the suites. When they finally reached the elevator, Ron approached Robotnik. "I'm gonna be at the bar, just in case you need me for anything." Ron informed.

"Again with your drinking." Robotnik rolled his eyes. "Alright, but remember, you owe me one."

"Thanks a lot, partner." Ron said with sincerity. Ron ordered a cherry wine before he would start his search for someone to help him out with where he was going to go. He spotted a crow suited up travel enjoying a martini. Since he was the only one who looked like a skilled pilot, Ron figured he could start his search with him. Ron grabbed his wine and sat right next to the crow.

The crow looked at Ron for a minute. "Do I know you?" he asked, trying to not sound to rude.

"No, but you do look like a skilled pilot." Ron answered.

"How'd you guess?" The crow set down his martini. "You're not with the Federation are you?"

"No, I have to worry about avoiding the Feds too." Ron answered.

"Pft! Good luck, this place is crawling with them." The crow warned before sipping at his martini again.

"What! How's that so?" Ron asked frantically. The crow pointed straight ahead of him, eyes closed while sipping at his drink. Ron saw the huge emblem of the Federation. It was a thick circle with two shapes that formed a star in the middle of it. Above the circle 'The New Universal Federation' was printed as clear as day.

"This station is controlled by the Feds, so no doubt everyone here's got somethin to do with the Federation." The crow explained.

"Please tell me you're not." Ron pleaded. The crow shook his head ensure the fox against his worries. "Good. I didn't catch your name, by the way."

"Name's Zack, but my friends call me Cap'n." The crow responded. "What's yours?"

"Ron Prower." Ron replied, hoping he would have a similar reaction to his name as Jerry did.

"Prower huh?" Cap'n said as he laid down his glass for another drink. "What business do you have with a guy like me?"

"My friends and I are trying to escape a Federation fleet that may be following us, and I need to know a location where I can remain safe for a while." Ron explained.

Cap'n thought for a minute. "You must be that lost boy."

"Lost boy?" Ron was shocked.

"Supposedly you're the one that got sent to a far away planet to remain hidden." Cap'n answered.

"Hidden, from who?"

"The Feds of course."

"The Federation is that old?" Ron said with ultimate surprise in his voice.

"It's been around for about two hundred years." Capn' answered. "It's rumored that your father sent you away to protect you from those Fed slugs.

"He should still be alive, right?" Ron asked with tone of hope.

"Well he built his kingdom on Crisis II, might want to check there if anywhere." Cap'n replied.

"Crisis II? Where is that?"

The crow pulled out a disk from his jacket. "This has the coordinates, and a map a few regions out there, you may need them."

Ron didn't know if he could take the disk or not, although he did want to trust him. He took the disk before he had any second thoughts and finished off his wine. "Thanks for all the help."

"No problem, always a pleasure to help one of the Prowers." Cap'n remarked as Ron exited the bar.

Ron and the rest of his crew waited in the lobby after a couple of hours of rest. They awaited the report on the repairs from Jerry, who had just arrived to let them leave. "You'll find that everything is in perfect condition." Jerry informed. I hope you enjoyed your stay."

"We did, and thank you for everything." Ron said as he left to board the Typhoon. The crew took their seats ready for take off. "Alright, stand by, everyone." Ron announced into his radio to the hull. The circles were lined up to enable the Typhoon top launch. Ron started up the tanks when he realized that the ship was being pushed by a device on the floor to help gain speed for the launch. Once they reached the necessary speed, the Typhoon blasted its way out of the space station.

When Ron pointed the ship to the coordinates given to him, he saw two Federation Flagships approaching, trying to cut him off. "We got through these guys before, we can do it again." Ron said to himself. One of the flagships continued towards the station while the ship McFalen was on was prepared to follow the Typhoon wherever it would go.

Ron was about to employ the Typhoon Twist when he realized it would be much easier to make the jump to light speed right away. "Everyone, prepare for light speed!" Ron announced to the crew. Within moments the blue birds engines flared up and propelled itself toward Ron's home world at several times light speed.

"Have you gotten their coordinates yet admiral?" McFalen shouted into his radio.

"Yes sir!" The Admiral of the nearby flagship responded.

"Good Job." Ralph congratulated. "Commander, display the coordinates on screen!" The screen in front of Ralph displayed a map and the Typhoon's destination. "So, the fox is headed back to his home planet. I guess now it's just a matter of who get's there first." Ralph said to himself.

"Captain! We have a transmission from the Halstar Space Station!" a nearby crew member alerted.

"Is those blue prints?" Ralph barked.

"Yes Sir!"

"Good, now not only do I know the weaknesses of his machine, I now can begin construction on my own bird." Ralph plotted sinisterly. "Prepare the ship for light speed, we cannot avoid losing anymore time on this pursuit!" McFalen ordered "The race is on, Mr. Prower."

McFalen's Flagship shifted into its laid down position and made the jump into hyperspace. There race had indeed begun between Ralph and Ron, to the Prower's home planet, Crisis II. But now McFalen is prophesying the downfall of Ron's Bird, with the intention of creating his own. But what Ralph doesn't know is the Chaos's power to overcome anything when the Seven Unite.

red feather...

To be continued...


End file.
